


Outed

by geezers



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Gen, Homophobia, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-25
Updated: 2013-06-25
Packaged: 2017-12-16 02:40:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/856819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geezers/pseuds/geezers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fill of <a href="http://footballkink2.livejournal.com/9768.html?thread=3805992#t3805992">this</a> prompt in fk2 in which Eden Hazard is outed and Juan Mata (a straight teammate) helps him through.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Outed

Juan was just about to leave for training when he saw the pictures, some fans @replied him on Twitter linking to the images in their tweets. A breath caught in his throat before he grabbed his keys and made his way to Cobham.

When he arrived – he was early, as per usual – he noticed a figure sitting on the floor in the changing room with a towel over his head. The number on his shorts gave him away, and Juan walked over before placing a hand on his shoulder. 

He pulled the towel off his head and looked up at Juan with sad eyes. 

“Eden…” Juan said, not really knowing what else to say. He didn’t say anything else at all; he slid off the bench and on to the floor next to Eden. The younger man waited a few seconds before letting his head drop on the Spaniard’s shoulder. 

“It’s all going to be okay, isn’t it?” Eden sounded upset, his voice teetering on the edge, on the verge of breaking at any moment.

Juan wrapped his arm around Eden’s shoulder and pulled him close. “Of course it will be.”

They sat together for the next 20 minutes when Eden jumped up off the floor. “Better finish getting changed,” he pulled on his training shirt and sat on the bench to put on his socks and boots. It was 9:30; soon the rest of the players would start arriving for the beginning of the day’s first training session.

Just as Juan heard a ruckus outside that signalled their fellow players would soon be with them, he noticed Eden stiffen. He had stopped tying his laces and looked straight at the door. Juan walked over to him and scooped the younger man into a hug. “Please, don’t worry too much,” he whispered into his ear, seconds later Luiz burst into the room with Oscar in a headlock.

“Mornin’ boys!” He said after letting his compatriot go, and bounding over to his locker. 

Other players started filing into the room, nothing was different from any other day except that instead of getting involved with the banter, Eden was sitting by his locker with his iPod on. Just before they all needed to go outside, Steve, the head of PR, called Eden outside. There was nothing abnormal about that, he’d often call individual players out to talk about interviews or photo shoots that were coming up. But this time, Juan knew it wasn’t about that. He knew it was about the pictures.

The pictures that show Eden fiercely making out with another guy. They were seemingly in a park, lying on a blanket, and kissing. The pictures didn’t look professional, they seemed like the work of an ordinary camera phone, and Juan had no idea how they got out. 

It was no surprise to the team that Eden was gay, he came out to the whole team pretty soon after transferring to the London club. No one on in the squad was all that bothered, but they all understood that it was something he had to do. He also told them that he had a long-term boyfriend – Benjamin – who had moved to England with him from France. Juan had met Ben a number of times, and he was a really nice guy, who clearly really loved Eden.

A few minutes later, Steve reappeared and called Juan too. Outside the room Eden’s face was stony. “Mourinho wants to have a meeting with Eden about the pictures that leaked this morning.” Steve stopped and looked over at Eden before continuing. “But Eden said he wouldn’t go unless you came with him.”

“Yeah, of course.” Juan said without even thinking. As soon as he agreed, Steve took off, calling the two players to follow him.

“I just needed someone,” Eden said quietly, and when Juan looked over at Eden, he noticed that the Belgian’s lip was quivering. They walked along side by side and Juan took Eden’s hand, which he noticed were also shaking, and squeezed it lightly. Juan was trying to say that he was there for him, that he was going to support him through all of this, but he couldn’t get any of it out. Juan hoped Eden got it, and from the small, albeit weak, smile that appeared briefly on his teammate’s face, Juan knew he did. 

The pair walked into the manager’s office, which was deadly silent, moments later Jose walked into the room, and sat at his desk, swivelling round in his chair so he faced the two players. He didn’t even acknowledge Juan, but turned his attention straight to Eden.

“What happened this morning is unfortunate, but I just wanted to call you in here to say that everyone at the club is going to support you. I’m not going to bullshit you and say from now on it’s all going to be rainbow flags and cupcakes because it won’t be – it’s going to be really difficult.” The manager waved his hands in the air as if searching for the words to say. “People are bastards and they’ll say anything to try and hurt you, especially if you’re in the public eye.” Fear flashed across Eden’s eyes and Juan just shuffled a little closer and placed his fingertips from his crossed arms on Eden’s bicep. Just to let him know he was still there.

“But what you need to remember is that you have a family that love you. You have a team that loves you. You have Benjamin.” Juan was secretly impressed that Jose had remembered Eden’s boyfriend’s name considering they’d only met briefly and Eden never disclosed that they were a couple. Although he shouldn’t have been surprised, it was only a week before when the manager had told Juan to wish Paula a happy birthday when Juan couldn’t even remember telling him that he had a sister, let alone what her name was and when her birthday was. Jose was much more perceptive than people gave him credit for. “You can’t let them get you down, I know it’ll be hard at times, but you need to power through. Play like you’ve never played before, run until your legs feel like they’re going to drop off, give it your all out there. The only way you can respond to this is by continuing like you were before. You were an incredible player then, you still are now. Just make sure that’s the only thing people care about.”

Mourinho got up and then hauled Eden out of his seat and into a hug. “Just go out there and show them. _Show them all_.” he murmured into Eden’s ear. 

Jose clapped Juan on the shoulder as he and Eden left the room, he told them to take their time going to training, that he and Rui wouldn’t hound them if they were late.

“How did Benjamin take all of this?”

Eden’s boyfriend had been in Paris for two weeks, he was an Art History student and his course had a trip to France’s capital to go to museums and see some of the work they’d been studying first hand. 

“He called me in tears this morning. He was apologising and apologising like he’d done something wrong.” Eden wrung his hands before stuffing them in his pocket. “I hadn’t seen the pictures yet – didn’t even know they existed – but once I got him to calm down he sent me a link and I looked at them. They’re not even that bad, but you can’t deny what’s going on in them either. In one of them I’m straddling him and he’s grabbing my butt!” He tried to laugh but it came out sounding hollow. 

Juan stopped him and turned Eden around they were facing each other.

“You know everything is going to be okay, right?” 

Eden didn’t say anything, but he nodded and playfully punched Juan in the shoulder. 

The next couple of days Juan consciously tried to take Eden’s mind off of what was going on. He made sure the younger man uninstalled the Twitter app on his phone and told him not to go on the site on his laptop. Some of the things that people were saying were truly disgusting, and Juan knew Eden didn’t need to see any of it. 

But one thing Juan couldn’t do anything about was the first match after the pictures surfaced. They were playing away, so Eden didn’t even have the comfort of knowing that their fans were all behind him. 

As the team stepped onto the pitch, the atmosphere was palpable. The only other time Juan had felt such a horrid ambience was the first match after Rafa was put in charge. The second Eden emerged from the tunnel, the taunts began, and the insults were unwavering throughout the whole first half. Calls of ‘homo’, ‘queer’ and ‘faggot’ rang out any time Eden touched the ball – and sometimes when he didn’t. Some truly dedicated homophobic fans even took the initiative to translate their slurs into Eden’s mother tongue and shout ‘pédé’ at him. 

Eden’s face remained stony throughout the first 45 minutes, he ran up and down the pitch like his life depended on it. He even set up Oscar so he could slot home the first goal, but that didn’t matter, he was still public enemy number one to the opposition fans.

In the dressing room at half time, after Mourinho had given his speech about how they should be ashamed to only be one goal up, Eden looked gaunt. Just as Juan was about to ask how he was, Eden got up and ran to the bathroom. Everyone in the rather quiet changing room heard him throwing up.  
They all exchanged sad looks at the treatment their teammate was getting and how it was affecting him. 

When Eden walked back into the room, JT stood from his seat and brought Eden into a hug. Seconds later they were called back out on to the pitch for the second half where Eden received more of the same. He charged up field and weaved his way through three players that circled him and made his way into the opposition penalty box, one on one with the keeper. He lifted his foot to chip the ball over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net, but slipped at the last moment and landed awkwardly on the grass. The jeers from members of the crowd were audible as Juan trotted over to Eden and offered a hand to help him up. It took him a second, but Eden jumped back up and continued playing.

“That was _horrible_.” Eden sighed as he took off his kit after match.

Juan looked up and dropped his shin pad on the floor. “I know it was, but you got through it.”

 

“I just want Benjamin to come back. His trip still has another five days.” Eden said, fidgeting with his car keys when the coach had arrived back at Cobham. “This morning when I called him, he was all worked up and wanted to come home, but I told him to stop being stupid and finish his trip.”

They stood by their cars, which were parked next to each other and leaned on their respective vehicles. “I miss him a lot,” Eden sniffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

Eden had been so strong throughout the whole ordeal, and Juan hadn’t seen him shed a single tear. For such a young guy, he’d weathered this storm incredibly well, and despite the fact that it was far from over, Eden had the spirit to get through it.

 

The next match was at home, and although the opposition fans again were baying for Eden’s blood, it was surprising that pockets of the home fans were also chanting things against Eden and his sexuality. Juan couldn’t believe it, Eden was still their player, he still defended their crest, wore their colours with pride, yet that didn’t matter to some of them. 

It was after that match that Eden finally broke down. When it was only he and Juan left in the changing room he let the tears fall, he slid down to the floor and curled in on himself.

“They’re our fans, and now they hate me. All because I have a boyfriend. What the fuck is up with that?” Eden murmured through his tears. His words were punctuated with hiccups where he was crying so hard.

Juan bundled him up in his arms and held him close. The pair sat together quietly, the only sounds to be heard were Eden’s sniffs and muffled cries. 

 

The next few matches brought more of the same, disgusting chants from ‘fans’ directed at one of the best footballers in the league. Despite the media storm that surrounded him, Eden’s form hadn’t dipped at all; in fact, he was playing some of the best football of his life. Whenever he had the ball at his feet, he blocked everyone, and everything, else out and let his football do the talking. Every assist he made, every goal he scored, every trick he did was sticking the finger up at those who had turned on him.

In fact, it hadn’t taken long before other players voiced their support for Eden. No one else had come out, despite the fact that there were many top-level footballers that were gay, but many said they appreciated Eden’s bravery for carrying on through the storm. 

Obviously, the media had been eating up every twist and turn in Eden’s story, he had declined to give a comment on the matter, although the pictures were found to have originated on a random teenage girl’s blog. He hadn’t pressed charges because everything was already out there and no court case was going to change that. Eden wasn’t ashamed of the pictures, although he did think it was a rather unceremonious way to come out to the world.

It took nearly three months for the chants to subside; Eden reinstalled the Twitter app on his phone (only after Juan told him he could) and reintroduced himself to the Twittersphere with a simple ‘Thank you for your support’. And although there were a fair few insulting messages, the messages of support far outweighed them.


End file.
